Wheeling fatal crash probe nearly complete
The Lake County Major Crash Assistance Team's 3½-month investigation of a crash in which a Wheeling police SUV struck and killed 20-year-old Des Plaines resident Fredi Morales is expected to be complete in the next couple weeks.
"We hope to get the MCAT report in the near future," Wheeling Deputy Police Chief Todd Wolff said Tuesday.
Wolff said the length of the investigation into the Sept. 14 crash is not unusual. When a Wheeling police vehicle was rear-ended on Milwaukee Avenue in August, the MCAT investigation took until November. And the crash that killed Morales in September is a more complex case, Wolff said.
Morales' family has sued Wheeling and the officer involved in the crash, 23-year police veteran Preston Robertson.
The lawsuit, which seeks damages in excess of $50,000, alleges Robertson acted carelessly and negligently by not illuminating his vehicle's flashing lights, sounding its siren or horn, or keeping a proper lookout as he traveled at a high and unsafe speed on McHenry Road before striking Morales.
The suit also claims that the village intentionally inflicted emotional distress on Morales' family by leaving body parts at the scene of his death for as long as 36 hours after the crash.
Morales family attorney Erron H. Fisher could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Though village officials have expressed sympathy for the Morales family, they say the allegations in the lawsuits are without merit.
Robertson, who was assigned to non-patrol light duty after the crash, was returned to full duty as a patrol officer several weeks ago, Wolff said.
Authorities said in September that Robertson was trying to catch up to a vehicle for a traffic stop when the SUV struck Morales. The officer had not yet activated his vehicle's flashing lights and siren, authorities said.
Morales was in dark clothes and running north along a dimly lit section of the road at 5:42 a.m., police have said.
Authorities have not said why Robertson was attempting to pull over a vehicle at the time of the crash.
Morales' family members said Morales was out with his brother and some friends on that Saturday night and early Sunday morning but had gotten separated from them and lost while looking for their car.